Results 21-40 of 48 for epa speaker:Michael Colreavy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing: Environmental Protection Agency (10 Jun 2015)

Michael Colreavy: I welcome the delegates from the EPA. Having said that, I do not think we should be here. This is a personal as well as a political issue for me. Senator Paschal Mooney lives close to the area most immediately threatened by fracking, but I practically live in it. I know the real fear people have as we discuss the matter coldly and scientifically. I am not a scientist or an engineer, but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing: Environmental Protection Agency (10 Jun 2015)

Michael Colreavy: I am getting to the question. First, how can the EPA expect that reasonable people will treat the report that will emerge from this process eventually as independent when the project is being led by cheerleaders for the fracking industry? Please tell me more than they have signed an undertaking, because that does not answer the question. How can reasonable people be expected to believe...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing: Environmental Protection Agency (10 Jun 2015)

Michael Colreavy: The first question I want answered is how does the EPA expect me or reasonable people to believe this will be an independent report, when the company leading on the research is a cheerleader for the fracking industry and the reason for its existence is to make sure that fracking takes place in Europe, the United States and wherever it can introduce it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing: Environmental Protection Agency (10 Jun 2015)

Michael Colreavy: My question is mainly about scope. I believe I know the answer to it, but I take it that the scope does not include the EPA considering factors such as the impact on house values, the cost to local authorities of road repairs and replacement and socioeconomic considerations. Is it intended that these factors will be included in the scope of the project?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing: Environmental Protection Agency (10 Jun 2015)

Michael Colreavy: ...the US Environmental Protection Agency and potentially even discredited it recently by putting forward a distorted view of that agency's information? Is there a risk to the reputation of the EPA in Ireland?

Order of Business (27 May 2015)

Michael Colreavy: On 28 April I asked the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, whether he was happy with the Environment Protection Agency, EPA, interim report on hydraulic fracturing. That report was less than two pages in length and it was a disgraceful document to be given to the Minister and the Dáil. On 28 April, the Minister of State indicated that he had received a further updated report from...

Order of Business (27 May 2015)

Michael Colreavy: I understood that the more detailed EPA report was to be made available that evening, let alone that week. The more detailed report has still not been made available and I have serious concerns as to why that has not happened.

Independent Planning Regulator: Motion [Private Members] (12 May 2015)

Michael Colreavy: ...'s capacity. These projects should have been good for our infrastructure, but they were mishandled. I will mention some of these later. Meaningful public consultation with host communities and Departments, investors and stakeholders is central to Sinn Féin's Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2014, currently awaiting Committee Stage. This approach should be adopted for all pieces of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Gas Exploration Licences (28 Apr 2015)

Michael Colreavy: ...not and never will be a Minister but if I was a Minister who commissioned a progress report and I received a two page document comprising 43 lines I would throw it back to the body charged with preparing it. It is a disgrace that such a document was presented as a progress report. It contains little or no substantive information regarding the progress of the investigation of a very...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 29 - Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Revised) (11 Feb 2015)

Michael Colreavy: Yes. How close are the communications between us and the Northern Ireland authorities? The pace of developments in Antrim does not seem to take into account the fact that the EPA is conducting a study in the South and that a report will issue in mid-2016. Many people are concerned that decisions will be made in advance of the issuance of that report, which would call into question the...

Oil and Gas Fiscal System Review: Statements (3 Jul 2014)

Michael Colreavy: ...the current rules. This is not true; it is a myth. Ireland’s offshore oil and gas reserves have the long-term potential to be a significant source of revenue for the economy. According to a 2006 report carried out by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, there are approximately 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent off our western coast, composed of 6.5...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Tourism Marketing Strategies: Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Colreavy: ..., but I am not. The witnesses might say it is not their business, but it is. There are far too many organisations and State agencies who are sitting on the fence on this matter and all because the EPA is doing some research into fracking. Tourism organisations should be extremely concerned about even the possibility of fracking in to the north west of Ireland. Irish Water, the agrifood...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Michael Colreavy: ...enjoys the support of the majority of people, particularly for certain projects in certain communities. However, I have already indicated in the Dáil that I want to work with the Minister and the Department on this because I share the vision that we have to maximise our use of renewable energy in this country. I will be submitting a detailed response to the Green Paper. If I may,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Michael Colreavy: The Minister should not dismiss or misinterpret what I said. I said the EPA study will not incorporate the level of resistance there will be at local level to these proposals. I live there, my family lives there and I hope my children and grandchildren will live there. The EPA study will not take into account the impact on the daily lives of people who live in and love that region. That...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Michael Colreavy: ...the point made about Government correspondence, signed by the Minister, which is normalising fracking. Where I come from, fracking is not normal and will never be regarded as normal. Will the EPA report measure the level of public resistance, should there be any attempt to introduce fracking in the north west? Does the Minister know the area? Has he seen it? Can he envisage the area,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Michael Colreavy: ...read it, I am concerned that hydraulic fracturing was addressed as a normal option. Where I come from, fracking is not normal. He said that the State had invested a good bit of money in the EPA and was carrying out a study on the environmental and unquantified or other impacts of hydraulic fracturing. To my mind, that study should not be going on. It is a self-evident truth that the...

Other Questions: Hydraulic Fracturing Policy (6 May 2014)

Michael Colreavy: I asked the question before but did not receive a clear answer. As well as conducting research on the scientific data, will the EPA or the company engaged by it to carry out the research meet representatives of communities in other jurisdictions who have said they were damaged by fracking?

Topical Issue Debate: Wind Energy Generation (25 Feb 2014)

Michael Colreavy: ...members of Leitrim County Council, representing Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Independent, voted by a large majority to have fracking banned in the county development plan, yet the EPA is spending its time and taxpayers' money on continuing research into something that anybody, who cares for the next generation, would know should not be allowed under any circumstances or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Forthcoming Telecommunications and Energy Council of Ministers Meeting: Discussion with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (27 Nov 2013)

Michael Colreavy: I believe that would ensure that we can preserve what is precious in our unspoiled landscape. Had this been done, the EPA would not even be considering fracking in the north west. Critically, it would permit rational discussion of the impact on host communities and measures needed to minimise or, if necessary, compensate for adverse impact where it exists. It would enable us as a nation to...

Other Questions: Hydraulic Fracturing Policy (24 Oct 2013)

Michael Colreavy: ...not happy with this thing and the gas companies are trying to buy their silence. They are jumping up and down, as it were, and saying fracking has damaged them. Will the Minister of State ask the EPA to ensure the views of such people are incorporated into the environmental impact study? If they are not, nobody in the report will have any credibility because those people will still jump...